(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI held his weekly General Audience on Wednesday morning,
during which he continued his catechetical reflections on the Year of Faith. Below,
please find the full text of his English-language remarks:
In our continuing
catechesis for the Year of Faith, we now consider the reasonableness of faith as an
encounter with the splendour of God’s truth. Through faith we come to true knowledge
of God and ourselves, and learn to live wisely in this world as we await the fullness
of life and happiness in the next. Faith and reason are meant to work together in
opening the human mind to God’s truth. By its nature, faith seeks understanding,
while the mind’s search for truth finds inspiration, guidance and fulfilment in the
encounter with God’s revealed word. Far from being in conflict, faith and science
go hand in hand in the service of man’s moral advancement and his wise stewardship
of creation. The Gospel message of our salvation in Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
offers us a true humanism, a “grammar” by which we come to understand the mystery
of man and the universe. In this Year of Faith, may we open our minds more fully
to the light of God’s truth, which reveals the grandeur of our human dignity and vocation. *
* * * *I offer a cordial greeting to the participants in the conference on Catholic
and Muslim cooperation in promoting justice in the contemporary world. I also greet
the group from CAFOD, with gratitude for the agency’s fifty years of charitable activity
on behalf of the Church in England and Wales. Upon all present at today’s Audience,
including those from England, Sri Lanka and the United States, I invoke God’s blessings!
Listen: